4 minute read
HEAVY PETTING
The Truth About Homeless People and Their Pets
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BY JACK HAGERMAN tips@sfreporter.com
Recently, I got a very fired-up email from a fellow animal lover who was very concerned about a social media post she saw about a homeless person and their dog. The post showed a photo of the person with his dog—who appeared healthy and happy—and the narrative was a rather melodramatic one that slung a whole lot of assumptions about this person’s ability to care for a pet.
The gist of her message was that because this person was homeless they must be neglecting and abusing their pet, and should not be allowed to have one. She was soliciting donations so that she could buy the dog from the homeless person and rehome him to a more “worthy” owner. The email was basically to demand that I have City Animal Services take custody of the dog and get it away from “those people.”
This fired-up email and the social media post got me really fired up. And let me tell you why.
There was a time in my adult life when I was homeless. For as much success as I’ve enjoyed professionally over the years, there was a brief time when my choices led me to a place where I had no safety net or job prospects. I was fortunate that I never had to live on the streets or in my car; I had friends who were able to let me stay with them until I could get back on my feet. But make no mistake, I was homeless.
I was lucky, though. I had a wonderful support system around me, and it isn’t lost on me that without that, I could have just as easily been living in my car with two very old dogs and an even older cat, begging for money on street corners.
When I was on top and making lots of money, my pets wanted for nothing. I made their food fresh every week. I made sure they had regular visits to the vet, and their prescriptions were always filled.
And guess what? When I was homeless, none of that changed. They still wanted for nothing and were always made a priority over my own well-being. And if it wasn’t for the structure and accountability that having to care for them gave me, I probably would have wallowed longer in my own self pity. It was the darkest time of my life, and they helped keep me sane. They kept me company. They kept me hopeful.
Fun fact for all those people out there whose privilege blinds you from a more compassionate point of view: Homeless people would rather sleep on the street with their pets than go into a shelter without them.
Read that last sentence again. That was the hard truth running through my mind as I read this woman’s diatribe of judgements and assumptions. Upon further investigation, we learned that this person and his dog were connected with a wonderful organization dedicated to helping homeless people and their pets called Street Homeless Animal Project (SHAP). So his dog was receiving plenty of food, water and veterinary care. He was taking his responsibility for his dog very seriously and getting
the resources he needed to make sure he was well cared for. The assumptions made by well-meaning community members that because he doesn’t have a home meant that he couldn’t properly care for his companion animal were not only false, but outright offensive. This man and his companion are family. So yeah, it got me fired up…just not in the way I think she’d hoped I’d be. A dear friend of mine, Karen Cain, is the founder and executive director of SHAP, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. In 1998, when she moved to Santa Fe, she drove around town with the trunk of her car packed with food, asking the homeless if their companion animals needed food or veterinary care. Now, all these many years later, Karen and her SHAP team are trusted in the community—receiving phone calls and meeting clients to deliver food, leashes, harnesses and anything else they might need to better care for their companion animals. Most importantly, SHAP arranges both preventative and emergency (often very expensive) veterinary services for these beloved companion animals. In fact, Karen and SHAP have M had a wonderful partnership with Santa Fe Animal Shelter for years, and we support all of their efforts in as many ways as we can. SHAP serves 150 to 300 clients E R & H U ANE SOCIETY each year with the sole purpose of keeping companion animals with their humans. To me, that’s a pretty noble mission. To learn more about their exceptional work in our community or to donate, visit them online at nmshap.org. And do me a favor? Please donate to them if you can. Every penny they COURTESY SANTA FE ANIMAL S H E L T raise goes back into helping people and their companion animals—and it’s a really beautiful thing. Sometimes love has no address.
Pops and pup Berta are two of the individuals getting help from the Street Homeless Animal Project. Jack Hagerman is the CEO of Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society.
CALL ME A PUSSY
